Texas military installations slated for $726 million in projects

Texas military installations would see $726 million in construction projects in a $72 billion spending bill approved by the House, lawmakers said.

The House bill includes $314 million for hospital construction at Lackland AFB, as well as dormitories and barracks at Fort Sam Houston.

Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (CHCI photo)

“This is truly addressing the medical needs of our service members,” said Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio. “Health care for our military members and their families is a very top priority.”

Gonzalez said Army and Air Force officials worked in tandem to get funding for the ongoing construction for the outpatient hospital at Lackland.

The hospital will provide care to Air Force personnel, retirees and dependents, part of the merging of Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center with Brooke Army Medical Center to form the San Antonio Military Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston.

Wilford Hall and BAMC were ordered consolidated by the 2005 base closure commission.

The new SAMMC will provide inpatient care, as well as trauma and emergency services.

The need for barracks and dormitories at Fort Sam comes with the post’s new status as the center for medical training for enlisted personnel in all service branches.

House members approved the bill by a 411-5 vote. President Barack Obama had sought funding for those San Antonio projects in his budget blueprint for 2012, which begins Oct. 1.

The House Appropriations Committee left the San Antonio requests intact while slashing $1.2 billion in projects at other military installations nationwide, including $50 million from the $136 million sought for a replacement hospital at Fort Bliss near El Paso.

Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on military construction, said the cuts were to “ensure that our precious tax dollars are not wasted on unnecessary or unaffordable projects.”

Officials said they were hopeful the cuts would be restored in a Senate version of the bill later this year. The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to mark up its legislation on military construction.

Differences in the two bills would be ironed out in a conference committee later this year.
Overall funding in the House bill for military construction is $14 billion, a decrease of 16 percent from 2011.

Other San Antonio funding included in the bill are $64 million for ongoing construction of a basic medical training dormitory, $46 million for continued building of barracks at Fort Sam Houston, $33 million for a hospital nutrition care addition and $10.4 million for a vehicle maintenance facility.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said language was inserted into the spending bill to build a hangar for an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, along the Southwest border, but no funding amount was requested.

Cuellar said the new hangar would accommodate a second UAV approved by Congress last year for use on the Texas border. The first UVA is housed at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station.

“This legislation directs the Army National Guard and Air National Guard to look at additional locations on the Southwest border where we can strategically locate another hangar,” Cuellar said.

The Pentagon plans to build a UAV hangar at Fort Hood near Killeen, and the House agreed to provide $47 million for the project.

Fort Hood would receive $132 million in projects in the House bill, while Fort Bliss would receive a total of $236 million in projects that include a training complex, a barracks and several vehicle maintenance facilities.

Red River Army Depot near Texarkana would get $44 million vehicle center.